


Become Sith or Die (And She Isn't Ready to Die)

by KittenFair



Series: Before the Game (Carmine Legacy Backstories) [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Old Republic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Backstory, Canon Related, Carmine Legacy, Empire AU, GFY, Gen, Headcanon, SWTOR
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-17
Updated: 2014-06-17
Packaged: 2018-02-05 01:25:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1800346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittenFair/pseuds/KittenFair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jedi code be damned, Saare Carmine wasn't ready to die yet, and she wasn't counting on a rescue. If that meant having to play Sith until she was strong enough to break free, so be it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Become Sith or Die (And She Isn't Ready to Die)

**Author's Note:**

> Playing through SWTOR, all the characters were given backstories - and stories - that sometimes coincide but don't necessarily follow the flow of canon. Here, Saare-ha's story is based loosely on the Sith Inquisitor game canon. Some characters will be familiar, though not always identical to their game canon counterparts.
> 
> Notably, this fic is in the "Empire AU" where Saare Carmine was abducted and converted by the Sith - this is the story of how this happened.

Born on Corellia into a long line of Jedi, the child once known as Saare Carmine was brought to Coruscant with her twin, Gen-ji’al, to train in the temple. Strong in the Force, strong-willed and fiercely intelligent, Saare was known as a very promising initiate and several masters kept an eye on her as she neared the age to be chosen as a padawan. While not proud to the point of arrogance, the girl was confident in her growing skills, and eagerly looked forward to when she would be chosen and continue along the path of the Jedi.

Her plans changed completely on an outing with her agemates, when a surprise ambush of Sith led to her kidnapping.

Despite the efforts of her brother and the masters, the rescue failed and the initiate was shuttled on the commandeered vessel of the nearest bounty hunter. As it was clear she was Force sensitive, she was brought to Korriban for observation. Defiant and unwilling to cooperate, she was condemned to slavery in the Sith academy. It was by no means an easy life, ‘discipline’ coming in the form of casual verbal and physical abuse, occasionally extending to more extreme punishment at the hands of the Sith, which resulted in branching scars from Force lightning mapping across her back.

The physical agony was something she was unprepared to endure, the mental and emotional onslaught more than her Jedi training could absorb without fracturing. In time, Saare’s optimism and unwavering faith in the Jedi code crumbled and tarnished. It had failed her. To cope, she grew distant from the code, regarding it with disdain, seeing flaws where she had once simply accepted it - while nice in theory, it deteriorated in the face of Sith torture and propaganda. Saare found parts of the Sith code applicable, though much of it she disregarded as too extreme. With no master and no access to study material, Saare leaned on what she knew and followed what she learned from observation and meditation.

As she neared her teens, her self-training was discovered by the overseers at the Academy. A severe beating led to her fighting back, and when she awoke, scarred and bleeding, Saare was informed she had impressed one of the Sith Lords. Upon recovery, she was directed to make herself presentable and return to the Academy for formal training as a Sith acolyte. Dressed in modest robes that hid her scars and a practice blade to defend herself, the former initiate was startled to discover her blue eyes had taken on an unquestionable ringing of gold. Her increasing reliance on the strength her emotions drew from the Force turned them completely gold by the time the Sacking occurred, which brought with it a flood of captured young Jedi hopefuls of all ages and a new chapter to her life.

Due to her rare skill with Force healing and extensive knowledge of natural medicine, Saare was sent to tend to the wounded who showed promise. In a rare break, she came across a boy, miraculously overlooked by the Sith, who had been mauled by one of the many hostile species of Korriban; while he had many injuries, there was only one that would require her particular skill - a gash over his left eye that threatened to ruin it. Never questioning her impulse, she took him in, tending him in private until the wound was healed. Deep scarring remained, but the boy survived and continued to evade the Sith. Finding some comfort in his company, the acolyte did what she could to shelter and tend him until one day he simply vanished.

With the loss of her unexpected but cherished companion, Saare withdrew, becoming fiercer, uncaring as strands of silver began to streak through her once vibrant auburn hair. The so-called ‘dark side’ was merely another facet of the Force, and she saw no point in shunning it so long as she was not controlled by it, as so many Sith were.

Years passed, and her skill and strength caught the eye of Lord Zash, who claimed her as an apprentice. Bitterly amused that she was now truly to be called Sith, Saare dropped all claim to her surname, changing her name to Saare-ha - a whimsical expression of her dark humor, mocking those who had laughed at her efforts to survive.

It was with her sudden expansion of freedom and access of information that the apprentice stumbled upon a hint that the boy had survived, had been taken into Imperial Intelligence. Still, under Zash’s watch, she couldn’t allow her attachment to be made obvious. With no idea who else to go to, she searched out the bounty hunter she had crossed paths with on the painful trip from Coruscant, reaching out to him in hopes he could find the information she sought.

After five years of searching, Seran-vin returned with a solid stack of information. The boy, now merely a few years younger than Saare-ha herself had been when they’d met, was physically changed almost beyond recognition. Intelligence had renamed him “Omega Blakk” - presumably assigning him to some specific, singular ranking. A rare stirring of hope roused within the Sith, and she began to consider, once more, the inadequacy of both Sith and Jedi, how neither would ever truly triumph and flourish as long as they desired, so long as they followed their current creed. The Sith, she anticipated, would be the eventual destruction of the Empire. Things needed to change.

Wild ideas began to form, and she asked the hunter to continue tracking the agent - find a way to meet him. In that time, she would research and plan carefully - see if her ideas had merit, could one day become reality.

Three years later, Saare-ha was coming into her own. Long hair now a distinct silver and pulled out of the way, she made her way to Hutta in the crimson robes of Sith, a lightsaber that glowed to match her eyes ready to defend the careful plans she was beginning to set into motion. She could not - would not - hesitate to cut down those who got in her way.

Years of planning… years longer, fighting for survival, recognition, and freedom… it was all coming together as she set foot onto Hutta, and sought out the young man that she had known so long ago. Things were about to change.


End file.
